Process for producing shaped mordenite bodies



United States Patent 3,445,184 PROCESS FOR PRODUCING SHAPED MORDENTTE BODIES Osgood J. Whittemore, Jr., Bellevue, Wash., assignor to Norton Company, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts No Drawing. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 547,379, May 3, 1966. This application Sept. 18, 1967, Ser. No. 668,628

Int. Cl. C01b 33/28 U.S. C]. 23112 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Mordenite, in the form of shaped pellets is produced by autoclaving, below 290 C., fired silica-clay-sodium silicate bodies in aqueous sodium silicate including between 0.1 and mole percent silica in solution.

This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 547,379 filed May 3, 1966, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 164,994 filed Jan. 8, 1962, now abandoned, for Synthetic Mordenite and Process of Preparation.

In copending US. application S.N. 80,552, now abandoned, filed on Jan. 4, 1961, by the present inventors colleague, L. B. Sand, is disclosed a synthetic, high silica Zeolite having unique properties. In the methods of prep aration exemplified in that application, the product is a crystalline powder. For many applications it is desirable or necessary that the materials be available in the form of strongly bonded pellets.

Pellets can be formed from the powdered product by adding ceramic bonding agents and firing the material after it is shaped into the desired form. Such a method of forming aggregates is satisfactory for many purposes but requires additional expense, as compared to the method of the present invention, and is also objectionable because it results in a less pure material in the aggregates than in the starting powder, and is unstable in said environments.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide zeolite aggregates in a self-bonded form, of high strength, and stable in acid environments.

It is a further object of this invention to provide methods for forming such aggregates.

According to the present invention it has been discovered that synthetic mordenite (a zeolite of composition Na O-Al O -9-10SiO -nH O) can be prepared by forming shapes of mineral mixtures of the mordenite composition, firing the shapes to a temperature below complete vitrification, and subsequently heating the fired shapes together with aqueous sodium silicate solution below 290 C.

As examples of this invention, six mixtures were prepared having the following molar compositions, excluding water:

Mixture No.: Molar composition C44 Na o A1 0 IOSiO Na O'A1 O '95SiO Na2O'A12O '9SlO2. N21 O-Al O '85SiO C49 Na O-1.33Al O -11SiO- N320 0.75Alz03 '9SiO It can be seen that the first four mixtures cited have equal proportions of Na O and A1 0 while the proportion of SiO varies. Mixture C49 has excess A1 0 while mixture CS0 has excess Na O in terms of the theoretical mordenite composition.

3,445,184 Patented May 20, 1969 These mixtures were prepared from three materials having the following chemical analyses:

Aqueous sodium Georgia kaolin, Diatomaceous silicate, percent earth, percent percent SiO: 45. 3 87. 3 28. 7 A1203 38. 4 2. 7 N 320 0. 3 8. 9

Plastic compositions were prepared, as follows:

Diatoma- Aqueous Georgla ceous sodium Added Mlxture kaolin, earth, silicate, water, N 0. percent percent percent percent These compositions were extruded into A diameter pellets which were then dried and fired at 600 C. for one hour. After firing, the pellets were placed in steel autoclaves with a volume in milliliters of the above described sodium silicate solution equal in number to the weight in grams of pellets. The autoclaves were then sealed and heated 16 hours at 175 C.

After cooling, the pellets were removed and washed with water. They were very strong. Crystal composition was then determined by X-ray diffraction, as follows, mentioning the constituents found in order of amount from largest to smallest.

Mixture No. Crystal composition C44 Mordenite, Quartz (trace). C45 Mordenite, Phillipsite. C46 Mordenite, Phillipsite, C47 Mordenite, Phillipsite, Analcime, Quartz. C49 Mordenite, Micas. C50 Phillipsite, Analcime, Quartz, Mordenite.

1.33Al 0 8.5-11Si0 In this invention may be employed any combination of reactive ceramic materials containing as their principal constituents, SiO A1 0 and Na O, as long as the molar composition is correct. In general, I prefer not to use materials containing unreactive quartz.

The present invention contemplates formation of aggregates, spheres, pellets, or other shapes by extruding, ramming, pressing, or slip-casting, choosing that method most applicable to the shape desired.

Any desired temperature below vitrification may be employed in the firing step as long as sufiicient pores are available in the shapes to allow entry of sodium silicate solution for reaction during the autoclaving treatment, and so long as the temperature is sufficiently high to produce strong pellets or other shapes.

The reactant liquor must contain, in solution, from 0.1 mole percent to 15 mole percent dissolved silica in the form of sodium silicate solution. Outside of these conditions the strength is unsatisfactory and the crystallization is inhibited.

After formation, I may also leach the material with mineral acids thus preparing hydrogen mordenite. Also, I may exchange the sodium or hydrogen ions in this sodium or hydrogen mordenite with other ions.

It has been found that in the case of mordenite prepared according to this invention where the reaction step, following firing, takes place below 200, the material can be treated with acid to form a particularly useful, very open hydrogen form of mordenite.

The following runs, which demonstrate the importance of control of the content of dissolved silica in the aqueous portion of the reaction batch, were run at 190 C. In all cases, enough aqueous solution was employed to cover the pellets. The pellets were short lengths of A4" extrudate.

The symbols used are: A for alumina, H for water, N for soda, and S for silica. Thus NAS means 1 mole of soda, one mole of alumina, and 10 moles of silica; and N SH means .3 mole of soda, 1 mole of silica and 8.7 moles of water.

In the tables excellent crystallinity means about 100% mordenite produced in 18 hours or less, very good means 90% or better, and unacceptable is less than 50%. In run G, for example, the crystalline product, after 18 hours, was 35% mordenite, 40% albite, and 25% phillipsite.

Mole Aqueous percent Pellet phase S102 composicomposiin solu- Run tion tion tion Strength Crystallinity N.3SH3 1 10 Excellent--. Excellent. N.3SH15 a 5. 9 Good Do. N SHza.1 3.56 do Very good.

811331 03 Excellent... Unacceptable. N,3SH8.24 11.1 d Excellent. N .4SH5.51 14 Very good--. Do. N, SH4.: 17. 5 Very weak Unacceptable.

What is claimed is:

3O 1. A method of making synthetic, strongly bonded .4 aggregates of mordenite comprising forming a plastic mix of clay, reactive silica, sodium silicate and water having substantially the composition of mordenite, there being present in the mix from about 1 to 1.33 moles of A1 0 and from 8.5 to 11 moles of Si0 per mole of sodium oxide in said sodium silicate, forming pellets from said mix, firing said pellets at a temperature high enough to produce strongly bonded stable pellets but below complete vitrification of the mix, and then heating said pellets between ands200 C. in the presence of a water solution of sodium silicate suflicient to cover said aggregates and containing from 0.1 mole percent to 15 mole percent dissolved silica whereby sodium mordenite crystals are formed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 943,535 12/1909 Gans 23-111 1,140,262 5/1915 Gans 23-111 2,882,244 4/ 1959 Milton 231l3 3,119,659 1/1964 Taggart et al. 231 12 3,130,006 4/1964 Rabo et a1. 231 11 X 3,334,964 8/1967 Reid 23-113 FOREIGN PATENTS 992,872 5/ 1965 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Barrer J. Chem. Soc. 1948, pp. 2158-2163.

EDWARD J. MEROS, Primary Examiner. 

